AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,507 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 313 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.1% of AllGen Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 44,836 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,773,000 after acquiring an additional 8,514 shares during the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,904 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,098,000. Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in Accenture by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 9,165 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,224,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,882 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,232,419.68. The trade was a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $301.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $188.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $351.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $354.90.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.